Digital Pedagogy in the classroom

Its time teachers realised that social media is not the enemy and that using it in the classroom keeps the learners of this generation engaged and attuned to the work they are meant to learn.

In the article, “A Guidebook for Social Media in the classroom”, the author puts social media in a different light. Social media is the one form of writing that will get you into college or get you fired. It is how you use it that determines what outcome you have. Learners will only be cautious or think before they tweet for example if they taught that way. Teachers play a huge role in a learner’s life and if they want to change the world then they need to embrace digital pedagogy and use social media in the classroom.

This doesn’t necessary mean that technology must be used. My favourite example is getting learners to tweet in the form of post-its. Remember technology is the tool, not the learning outcome. It is important to expose learners to social media in a safe, positive environment. They will make mistakes in the future but if you as an educator guides them to use it in a way to make their lives better then you are already making a difference to their lives and by extension to the world.

Here are some examples of how teachers have used social media and technology:

• Remind: One-way communication from teacher to learners and its used to remind them about work due for the next day or inspire them in some way. This tool allows the teacher to share documents so if a learner has lost the paper copy they then have access to it on this group.
• Twitter: This is a great way for the teacher to communicate and share with the learners outside the classroom. Learners have used this to ask questions about work and prefer it over email because of how quickly they receive a response.
• Blogging: Writing and commenting about all sorts of topics and it allows learners to connect with people all over the world.

All these examples of social media used outside the classroom enhances learning inside the classroom. It also is the best form of communication with learners because this is the technology era and students love it.

Embrace the change!!!